Friday, 26 December 2014

Many Dimensions

Currently reading: Many Dimensions by Charles Williams 📚

The flyleaf of a hardback book, with a handwritten inscription: 'From Charles Williams, 26 Jan 31, in friendship.

This is the first Williams I've managed to finish! Well, I find him hard going. Lots of characters to keep track of, lots of talking. Most of the action takes place in dreams and visions, and it can be hard to tell what's meant to be happening sometimes. I get the impression that the plot is secondary to metaphysical or mystical considerations, so if I knew more about Sufism or whatever I'd get more out of the book. Now, you could say exactly the same about e.g. Alan Garner's adult novels, but somehow Garner terrifies and engages you; Williams, not quite. On the plus side, it's very evocative of its era, and it's good to read a book by an Inkling that has an adult female character in a major role, although ultimately passive.

He's worth a look though, if you find any of his books anywhere. At his best he reads a bit like Harriet Vane battling Satanic forces rather than solving crimes. He just doesn't reach his best often enough for me.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

A Christmas Story

Once, when I worked at SanScrip, round about this time of year, I was testing an interactive training exercise which my colleague had written.

I thought there was something a little odd about the names he'd used in his example database. But anyway, I followed the steps, ran the query, then glanced at the report I'd generated:

Dee Holly
Andy Ivy
Wendy Arbroath
Phil Groan
Ophelia Trees
Katerina Wood
Dee Holly
Wesley Crown

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Grammatical terminology for schools
— Linguistics Association of Great Britain

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Manchester ceilidh is (just over) 10 years old! Good to see they're still going strong.

Manchester Ceilidh

Parents at my kids' school tell me they used to go to Manchester Ceilidh when they were young ravers... This makes me feel old and proud simultaneously.

Monday, 15 December 2014

Glad to see that the Wythenshawe monorail is still remembered, even if only by internet satirists.

Sunday, 7 December 2014

I've got to admit I just can't understand why anyone would be offended by breastfeeding. Just can't put my head into that mindset.

Claridge's Protest Would Probably Be Classfied As 'Ostentatious' Breastfeeding

Friday, 5 December 2014

Typography and science fiction. Aw man. This pleases me a lot more than it should.

Typeset In The Future: Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies

I just love the bit about localisation errors in the instructions for the Nostromo's self-destruct mechanism.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

-2°C this morning, not the coldest I've ridden in by a long way, but you do get a bit chilly when you have to stop and pull chunks of metal like this out of your tyres.